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Fiscal cliff: John Boehner declares stalemate

Speaker John Boehner declared an impasse Friday in negotiations with the White House over avoiding the fiscal cliff that’s just 32 days away.

“There’s a stalemate,” Boehner said at a news conference in the Capitol. “Let’s not kid ourselves. I’m not trying to make this more difficult. If you’ve watched me over the last three weeks, I’ve been very guarded in what I have to say because I don’t want to make it harder for me or the president, or members of both parties to find common ground.”

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Discussions, he said, are “almost nowhere.”

It’s the second day in a row that Boehner has cast doubt on the negotiations to avoid tax increases and massive spending cuts. It came just after President Barack Obama toured a Pennsylvania toy factory, urging Congress to forgo low tax rates for the wealthy and pass an extension of middle-income tax rates.

The major sticking points remain the same: Congressional Democrats want to raise tax rates on the highest income earners, while keeping the current lower rates in place for the middle class. Republicans want to extend rates for taxpayers at all levels.

He dubbed their opening offer “not a serious proposal.” And rate increases, the speaker said, are the “wrong approach.”

As Democrats hammer Republicans for being vague about entitlement changes, Republicans are starting to respond. Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) separately discussed the kinds of tweaks to these programs they want.

Boehner, in his press conference, pointed to the GOP’s budget over the past two years for ideas of what they’re seeking on entitlement changes.

“There have been discussions about many of those same issues this time,” Boehner said. “So there’s a lot from the conversations that we’ve had to inform almost anybody the kind of proposals that we’re looking for.”

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, McConnell said Republicans would offer more revenue if Obama allows for means testing of Medicare recipients and increases the eligibility age or slows payment increases for Social Security.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who supports the wealthy paying a higher tax rate, said he is not stuck on returning the level to 39.6 percent, where it stood before 2001.

“I want the math to work,” Hoyer told reporters. “If the math works at 39, if it works at 38.6, if it works at some other figure along with the cuts that you’ve imposed, then I can support that. But I want to support something where the math demonstrably works.”

The man can't keep his hands off taxpayer dollars and has racked up 5 trillion to the deficit in his first term, 33% more spending than past Presidents and wants more.

At some point it's gotta stop, so let's see what's at the bottom of the fiscal cliff and get on with it. The GOP has nothing to lose, they aren't in the WH, Obama is. He ducks responsibility on everything so let him lead on this one. The irresponsible on money re-elected him back in for his entitlement mentality. Obama also wants unlimited spending power, no debt ceiling. Republicans for the sake of this nations financial health need to stop this POTUS everytime he spends.

Obama's a really nice guy and means well he just can't control himself with our money.

Democrats won the majority of the votes in the Senate, the House, and the White House, all on raising tax rates, the constant theme of Obama for five years.

By nature of House districting, Republicans won the majority of the House seats which is perfect for President Obama.

All Obama budgets will have Republican support for the next two years, just like for the past two years,

Republicans will not be able to lie that Obama rammed anything through without Republican support, which he never did - all spending had Republican support to pass, including all stimulus bills, and even Obamacare required Republican votes to get passed.

Obama has boxed Republicans into fighting against themselves and Republican ideas, so they have no rational position to stand on. Republicans bring up Clinton as the way to cut a deal and fix the economy, but Obama is proposing lower tax rates than Clinton tax rates. Republicans bring of Reagan as the way to cut a deal and fix the economy, but Obama is proposing lower tax rates than Reagan agreed to. So, to argue Obama is unreasonable on demanding higher taxes, they point to Reagan and Clinton who agreed to higher taxes than Obama is calling for.

Basically, Republicans are saying Newt was wrong on his deal with Clinton, and Reagan was wrong on his deal with Tip Oneal.

But that means Republicans can't point to Clinton and Reagan as the kind of deal maker Obama should be, unless they are making the point that Obama is making exactly the deal to be like Reagan and Clinton.

John Boehner is terrified to bring the bill that has already passed the Senate to the House floor, because he knows it would pass, and then his Tea Party bosses would not elect him to be Speaker in January.

I think it technically impossible to declare an impasse on the first offer. I think technically you have to counter offer before the declared impasse. This is much like the transgression committed by Schwarz in the great tongue on the flagpole debacle in Cleveland with Boehner's uncle, Flick Boehner. Like Schwarz.he has moved straight to tripledog-dare. For shame.

Obviously Boehner did not get the message. Americans voted for reality and against delusion. They voted to raise taxes on those RESPONSIBLE for all of the National Debt. They voted against stealing from Social Security and Medicare, FULLY FUNDED by people who WORK for a living and people who have WORKED for a living , people who have “regular” income and against stealing those FICA based funds to fund tax cuts for those who do not have “regular” income people. The people who built America are sick and tired of the party that bilked America. The entire debt is due to Reagan-Bush tax cuts, unfunded wars, the carrying charges for that debt (½ trillion a year and counting) and cleaning up the mess that was due to lack of regulation of Wall Street or as they have become know the 1% ers. It is time that pay their debt to society, a dirty word to the party of bigotry and hate, but exactly what the words “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...” mean. They are at the beginning of a document which defines the work that you and your colleagues were hired for. Every day you disrespect that document, every day you refuse to do your job, every day you commit you and your party fail to uphold the ideals of that document. It is time for you and your colleagues to recognize that no job has ever been created by a tax cut, so stop telling the lie.It is time to act like an adult. The only thing left for Americans to do is start the recalls before the first of the year..